Now that Kylie has been made, let's make her a proper friend. Like stated in my 6th blog post, I think allowing her to make an actual friend, one who also has ASD, will help her come to terms with her identity. In order to do this, I want her friend to already be comfortable with who she is. If I made the friend very similar to Kylie when it came to symptoms in human interaction, it would create a “us vs the world” kind of vibe, that they are both inhuman. I need Kylie to learn that she’s a person, regardless of her condition. By making a character that heavily contrasts, yet compliments her, it gives her the opportunity to learn.
(It's a spectrum! Opposing traits can both still be symptoms and not everyone will share the same ones)
The most important trait of this new friend would be making her lower masking. If they are truly comfortable with the way they are, the friend would obviously feel less of a need to mask their behavior. With this, they will have much more open stims and generally care less about how they are acting, being more impulsive. They could also be a lot more blunt with their speech. Kylie feels the need to over explain everything, both so she’s not misunderstood, and because she feels like all her actions need to be justified. Friend could have a tendency to under explain and not elaborate, just saying whatever comes to mind. Of course, having no filter can also be an issue, so they contrast each other on this problem.
Another way to contrast them is making the friend lean more to the overemotional side, wearing their heart on their sleeve. By seeing this person so freely expressing themselves, not really concerning themselves with other’s reactions, could give Kylie the reassurance she needs to calm her masking a bit. After all, this person clearly isn’t planning any of her actions, so maybe she doesn’t have too either. This could lead Kylie to expressing herself in her own way. If she can’t automatically express herself in her face, maybe she could realize she has more subtle ways to express herself, like small actions, or find that typing her feelings is easier since she wont have to worry about all the nuance that comes with talking.
They wont be complete opposites though. Maybe the friend has trouble making friends as well, not because they’re too focused on masking, but because they are seen as “too much” to their peers. They could too wish for more close relationships than they get, but don’t think its worth not being themselves in order to do so. Sure, being blunt can cause problems, and maybe they need to work on that, but flapping their hands when something excites them isn’t the end of the world, and they don’t think they should be treated like an anomaly because of it.
Again, with sensory issues, I want to give the friend one thing they can’t stand. For them, I'll make it physical touch. With making it touch, I can make it very clear in interactions between both them and Kylie. Maybe Kylie tries to give them a hand shake because thats what she’s learned is right when meeting a new person, and the friend just outright rejects it with a “no thanks.” It’ll be strange to find someone her masking tactics work even less on, and could encourage her to calm her racing mind.
So this is the friend Kylie will make. A person who likes who they are. Low masking with very exaggerated behavior. They can come off as blunt, but means well. They too struggle with making and maintaining relationships, but cares less about the fact than Kylie. Unless its planned and they already knows the person before hand, they can’t stand physical touch from another person and will very vocally avoid it. Overall, they teach Kylie that she is human, just as they are, just as everyone else is. Being disabled will always come with its downfall and backlash, but we cant let it consume us.
Next, this friend needs a name. I can’t just call them “friend” the whole time. (And I guess they need a gender too)
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